The oldest earth layers are dating of 300 million years ago. The erea of the Netherlands today was
in that time mostly water. When the crust of the earth started to rise in the last million of years,
land arised out of the sea.

200.000 years ago, in the Riss-icetime our country was covered with ice from Scandinavia, it left a
layer of clay.

After the temparature raised, the melting ice lead to a higher sea level and the land became
swamppy. The clay ground was good to live on. The dunes along the coast were formed by the sea and
the wind.

The West-coast of the country have the most polders, lakes and ditches and thats why it is called
the lowland.

WELCOME.
If you come to Amsterdam you will arrive 13 feet below sealevel. The new Amsterdam Airport is built
in a former lake where the Dutch fought against the Spanish fleet. The lake was a hole for many
shipwrecks.
-Schip- means ship and -hol- means 'hole': Schiphol Amsterdam Airport.

Famous VOC.

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded on March 20, 1602. Ships sailed to Asia from
Amsterdam, Delft, Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Middelburg and Rotterdam in order to conduct trade. The Dutch
economy grew rapidly as a result. This trading company grew between 1602 and 1799 into one of the
first true multinationals of the world.

Click VOC-map for an enlargment.

go to The Official Holland Site for Tourism and Conventions.

The Netherlands

go to The Netherlands Board of Tourism. Travel, Arts, Style, Shops.

the low (nether) land

24% of Holland’s surface
area is situated
under the average sea level.

Wind,
water and ice are the three most important creators of the low countries. In the history of our soil
an other forge played an important role, the movement of the earth's crust who flared up or
compressed the soil. Of more importance for our landscape was the Riss-icetime between 200.000 and
70.000 years ago.
The ice-cab of the Northpole in that time was expanding.
They groove deep vales in the soil and flared up the layers very high. That gave rise to the
beginning of the middle and the Southern part.
At that time the 'land' was mostly covered by water.
During the last thousend years the land became her shape and character under the influence of the
sea. The sea takes land but forms new land aswell. On places with high and strong waves, more and
more sand flared up till big piles. This was how the dunes were formed.
The sea builts up land and takes it away, that's the reason the Dutch have to protect their land
against the sea. Now more and more because of the rising sea-level by Global Warming.

From the prehistoric time 50BC up to 1588, and much more.

SECTION of the Netherlands

Who is Hans Brinker?
Hans Brinker is known as the boy who stuck his finger in the dike when a flood threatened, and thus
kept the water back. This is a basic misunderstanding: This is the legend described in the book
"Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates’" in reality it is about Peter, the lockkeeper’s
son and Hans's skating trip in 1865. Read more about history and the constitution
of the Netherlands.

INNOVATION POWER.
Surrounding towns of the 'Zuidplaspolder' may expand in the coming years.
Houses built on poles and floating houses will prevent them from fludding.
The most lowest part will be an area of greenhouses. Those greenhouses get
CO2 by a pipeline from the Rijnmond port. This gas makes vegetables and
flowers grow faster and prevent horticulture using naturalgas in summer.
Energie from making greenhouse-gas will be exchanged with the houses in the
residential suburbs, so their occupiers do'nt need naturalgas in winter.

What is a 'polder'?

A
polder is a lowlying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity,
enclosed by embankments known as dikes.
The first tracks of human activity are 50.000 years old. About 6000 years ago the first farmers
settled in the country mainly in the
South and East. There it was high enough for the water in the low part. By humans the landscape
changed, forest became hallo fields. Round 400 BC people settled in the low part and lived on a high
sanddike-"terp". Later from early 1600 they started to connect all terps to dikes and gain
land out of the low ereas which contains water, named polder,-"em-poldering"-. Windmills
take care of de waterlevel
in that area later on. Now a days big
pumping stations are built to maintain a
constant waterlevel in the lowlying-land.
The rectilinear Dutch landscape of
polders (reclaimed land) with its
characteristic locks, dikes, windmills, farms and cows is instantly recognizable. This
rational landscape is unique, but also fragile. The Netherlands has more than three thousand
polders, which have undergone various spatial developments over the years. They will continue to
change as a result of pressures from urban and rural factors. But how? Must we preserve the
aesthetic value of the polder landscape? Will they become building sites? Or will they be partially
surrendered to the forces of nature? There are various possible future scenarios.

In the years past, the Dutch coastline has changed
considerably as a result of human intervention and natural disasters.
Most notable in terms of land loss are the 1134 storm, which created the archipelago of Zeeland in
the south west, and the 1287 storm, which killed 50,000 people and created the Zuiderzee (now dammed
in and renamed the IJsselmeer) in the northwest, giving Amsterdam direct access to the sea. The St.
Elizabeth flood of 1421 and the mismanagement in its aftermath destroyed a newly reclaimed polder,
replacing it with the 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) Biesbosch tidal floodplains in the
south-centre. The most recent parts of Zeeland were flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953 and
1,836 people were killed, after which the Delta Plan was executed.

New houses behind the dyke, the danger is 'Global
warming' and the rising sea-level.
Once water, now land. The never-ending battle with the sea and the Dutch conquest has put Holland on
the map. The rich history and distinctive pattern of land division are unique throughout the world
and make a visit to the "Polder-land", one you won’t easily forget.

The
Netherlands is often called Holland, because of the role the two western provinces North and
South-Holland played in its history. From there the ships of the VOC sailed all over the
world discovering the globe. They conquer a lot of foreign land and it became a
colony of the homeland: Holland.The last finished protection of Holland were the "Delta Works"
after the North Sea Floods in Zeeland, 1953.

45 Metre wide steel doors are raised to let the tides rush through below them. A must to visit – a
must to have seen!

is one of the most impressive structures in the world, thus earning it the title
'The Eigth Wonder of the World'.
This system of hydraulic engineering works
protects the country against storm surges
and improves the water balance.
A real technical tour de force!
Because raising the dikes in the densely populated delta of the Rhine, Maas and Schelde river would
be difficult and costly, plans were made to connect the South Holland and Zeeland islands by dams.
These plans together were called theDelta Plan.

<---- Storm surge barrier

The province of Zeeland is bounded by the
North Sea in the west and borders on
Belgium in the south. Water sport fans take
to Zeeland like fish to water.
Walcheren in particular has numerous attractions for families.
The coast of Zeeland and its hinterland is fascinating all year round.
People interested in the rich history of Zeeland can enjoy themselves in one of its many historic
towns. Middelburg, the capital, has no less than 1100 monuments. The fascinating story of how the
Dutch finally conquered the sea is told at Waterland Neeltje Jans, a former work island, that now
accommodates an informative exhibition. When setting foot on shore Neeltje Jans Waterland, you step
into the world of water.
More info: Deltapark Neeltje
Jans.

Neeltje Jans was the name given to Nehalennia by the local population, meaning “Lady of the North
Sea”.